In the spirit of making things yourself, and to continue the recent chocolate theme of this blog, I give you Chocolate Mint Truffles for Valentine's Day. So named because they resemble a certain expensive fungus, truffles are doable at home... after a few trials.

When I saw this video, I thought, "Wow! Chocolate truffles are ridiculously easy to make!" However, this is not entirely true. Short ingredient list? Yes. Failsafe? No. Delicious when finally assembled? Yes. Clean? No, no, absolutely not. Let it be known that the video above does not show you how messy this process is. In fact one could probably make a legal case for fraud since the messiness is both completely unavoidable and entirely omitted from said video.

Video complaints notwithstanding, Matthew scarfed these down like I could whip them up again in 5 minutes. We kept the container in the freezer, and Matthew frequently wouldn't even wait for them to thaw. They were an excellent after-dinner shot of chocolate richness that left a mild minty sparkle on our tongues.

The following recipe is my multi-attempt, best-practice amalgamation of several truffle recipes. I have an inkling that humidtiy and fridge temperature played a large part in how my truffles finally set up, so you might need to experiment, too.

Chocolate Mint Truffles
1 pound high-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Cocoa powder for rolling

Place the chopped chocolate in a large glass or metal bowl. Bring the cream and butter just to the edge of a boil, then pour them over the chocolate. Add the peppermint extract and whisk gently until the chocolate has melted and the ganache mixture has a smooth, uniform consistency. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, until ganache is cool but not hardened and can still be stirred easy.

With a hand-held mixer,* whip on medium-high speed for several minutes, until the ganache is light, fluffy and somewhat stiff. Cover by pressing plastic wrap directly onto the ganache and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Prep your work area with a glass of hot water from the tap, a round teaspoon or small melon baller, and a flat dish with high sides, filled about 1/2 inch deep with cocoa powder, and your final storage container.

Scoop out a rounded teaspoon of ganache and roll it into a rough ball. Place the ball in the cocoa powder. Repeat this process two or three more times, then shake the cocoa dish around until the truffles are coated on all sides. Transfer the finished truffles to your storage container. Melt any straggling chocolate bits off your spoon or melon baller in the hot water, the repeat until you've used all the ganache. If the ganache gets too soft to hold a shape, toss it back in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Throughout this process, your hands will become covered** in melted chocolate more than once. Just wash and dry them thoroughly when they are start to ruin your finished truffles.

*Obviously, I made these before the Oreos, or I wouldn't have been able to mix. Burghilicious is still accepting mixer donations.

**If you wear gloves, your hands won't be covered in chocolate. However, I'm posting this on Valentine's Day, so you can decide for yourself whether being chocolate-covered is positive or negative.

P.S. If you go to Mark's on a Friday night for the happy hour buffet, you might luck out with some of Mark's chocolate balls. They aren't exactly truffles, but they are certainly schweddy.